Ipo (left) and Jorja (right), waiting for me to dry them off after a last play time together on a drizzly afternoon the day before they left / Photo: Katerina Lorenzatos Makris

by Katerina Lorenzatos Makris ~

My two beautiful foster girls are miserable right now.  They’re stressed and terrified, but there’s nothing I can do about it. And it’s all for a good reason.

Princess Jorja Specklestockings and puppy Ipomoni are on their way at this very moment to a place where they will be cherished at least as much as I have cherished them.

In the dark and roaring belly of a plane, they are traveling halfway across Europe from Athens to Amsterdam, where Dutch rescue group Stichting Animal Association International (AAI) has found Jorja a wonderful forever home, as well as a lovely foster home for Ipo.

Friend Lia Theodoris, their flight escort (when pets travel accompanied by a passenger it’s much cheaper and easier), will deliver them into the waiting arms that will give them futures of safety, health, fun, and love. In the cabin with her, Lia is also transporting a Greek kitty who has found a home in Holland through Mirtos, another Dutch rescue group.

Of course I’ve been crying ever since I said goodbye to Jorja and Ipo at the port of Kyllini in western Greece yesterday before loading them into the pet taxi that took them to Athens.  OK, I was actually crying for several days before that. But this is what it means to be a rescuer and foster caregiver, and after 130-plus rescues in the past couple of decades, I knew what I was getting into.

You give up all you’ve got for them—your time, your money, your full nights of sleep, sometimes your health, sometimes your human relationships, and certainly your heart—only to send them away when the time comes, perhaps never to see them again.

Oh gads, I really shouldn’t write something like that at a time like this.  Set myself off again, and I’ve run out of tissues.

Armed with a roll of paper towels now, I’ll say just a couple more things.

It’s all worth it. Every bit. Although I am so exhausted I can barely see to type, although this has really cost me, and although these two girls wore me out in almost every way, I’d do it all again.

I love you, my crazy little angels.  I love you forever, no matter where you are, no matter whose shoes you’re eating, or whose garden you’re excavating, or whose lives you might turn upside down, you will always be the gorgeous, intelligent, brave, fun-loving, and sensitive daughters not only of my heart but also of this magnificent yet troubled ancient land that could not properly cherish and keep you, just as it fails so many others like you.

Remember that you are Greek girls, and we Greek girls are tough. You will make it through tonight, and I will make it through this goodbye. If the Fates will smile upon us just a bit, you will have very few more scary hours in the years to come, and I will have the privilege of saying dozens more of these bittersweet goodbyes.

As for Greece… ah, our Hellada… you will find your way to a brighter future too, I think. You always have.

Couraggio to you, my sweethearts. And godspeed.

With special thanks to friend and fairy godmother Anneloes Wagenaar Hummelinck, who waved her magic wand to interest Stichting AAI in Jorja. Then Ipomoni got to tag along too.

And thanks as always to The Saint, a.k.a. my valiant husband, for putting up with my long absence, and for funding the rescues of Jorja, Ipo, and dozens more.

HAPPY UPDATE: Ipomoni now lives in a loving forever home in the Netherlands with her adopters Irma and Arjan.

Want to help more dogs break their chains? Buy  ‘UNCHAIN MY HEART’,  A FUN NEW ROMANTIC FICTION STORY about freeing a chained dog!  Just $2 and ALL PROFITS go to animal rescue groups who help dogs like Ipomoni.

READ MORE about Ipomoni’s rescue…

Puppy on a chain escapes

Puppy on a chain will never be chained again

Heart marking on puppy’s face symbolizes her loving nature, waiting to give it all to you

‘Don’t leave without me!’ Puppy Ipo will follow foster sister Jorja to a new life

Rescued dogs Ipo and Jorja head to bright new lives in Holland tonight

Patience brings rewards in animal rescue: chained puppy freed, finds loving home

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Here at Spicy Stories Save Lives, we depend on sales of our romantic fiction to rescue and sponsor animals like Ipomoni, and to create  real-life happy endings.

Won’t you please use a couple of bucks to enjoy a fun read, to spice up your life, and to replenish our rescue fund?

We, the animals, and our fellow rescuers will thank you kindly!

Spicy Stories Save Lives proudly sponsors needy animals in the U.S. and around the world.

For example we help Kefalonia Animal Trust (KATs) provide free spay/neuter for hundreds of animals per year, which is one of the best ways to prevent the abandonment and misery of puppies like Noah and Kyla.

We also do in-the-trenches rescues of angels like Robin, Chance, and Tiger, with help from San Diego Animal Support Foundation, and of Marisol and Lisa, with help from Last Chance at Life.

Spicy Stories Save Lives and the author of this article have no affiliation with the rescue groups mentioned above, other than as a volunteer and donor.

Seen our book?  Your Adopted Dog: Everything You Need to Know About Rescuing and Caring for a Best Friend in Need, by Shelley Frost and Katerina Lorenzatos Makris, available through Amazon.com.

Katerina Lorenzatos Makris is a career journalist, author, and editor. Her fiction includes 17 novels for Simon and Schuster, E.P. Dutton, Avon, and other major publishers (under the name Kathryn Makris), as well as a teleplay for CBS-TV, and a short story for The Bark magazine. She has written hundreds of articles for regional wire services and for outlets such as National Geographic Traveler, The San Francisco Chronicle, Travelers’ Tales, NBC’s Petside.com, Animal Issues Reporter.org, and Examiner.com (Animal Policy Examiner).